Earlier today, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received sufficient H-1B cap petitions to commence the H-1B cap lottery selection process. USCIS received a sufficient number of H-1B cap-subject petitions for both the general H-1B filing category and the advanced degree exemption (US Master’s Cap). USCIS will continue to accept H-1B cap-subject petitions received today, April 7, 2017, but will reject any such filings received on or after April 8, 2017.

Background

Each year, USCIS begins accepting new H-1B cap-subject petitions for the fiscal year on the first business day in April, subject to annual quotas of 65,000 visas for general petitions and 20,000 visas for petitions filed under the US Master’s Cap. During the initial filing period for Fiscal Year 2018, which began on April 3, 2017 and concludes on April 7, 2017, USCIS received more than enough H-1B cap-subject petitions to fill both the general and advanced degree quotas. As such, USCIS will not accept any new H-1B cap-subject petitions filed on or after April 8, 2017 for FY2018. The next filing period for H-1B cap-subject petitions is scheduled to begin April 2, 2018, barring any changes to the H-1B program under President Trump’s administration.

When USCIS receives more petitions than it can accommodate under the annual quotas, a lottery is conducted to determine which petitions will be adjudicated. In the coming days, USCIS will use a computer-generated lottery process to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 US Master’s Cap. The agency will conduct the selection process for the US Master’s Cap first. All unselected US Master’s Cap petitions then become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 general-category cap limit. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees.

Recommendations

Employers that have filed H-1B cap-subject petitions for Fiscal Year 2018 should stay tuned for further information from USCIS regarding the date of the H-1B lottery, as well as the total number of petitions filed.